


A Chattering Boy

by billspilledquill



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Naruto Canon Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25044970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/billspilledquill/pseuds/billspilledquill
Summary: “I want that,” the child whined, tugging urgently at his sleeve. “I want it!”“I am not buying ramen for a three-year old,” Kakashi said reasonably, roaming his pocket only to find money at the very bottom.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Kushina, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 97





	A Chattering Boy

**Author's Note:**

> You would think I will stop posting Naruto content every single damn day. I did too.

_Did I not, then, as I grew out of infancy, come next to boyhood, or rather did it not come to me and succeed my infancy? My infancy did not go away (for where would it go?). It was simply no longer present; and I was no longer an infant who could not speak, but now a chattering boy._

_The Confessions of St-Augustine_

“I want that,” the child whined, tugging urgently at his sleeve. “I want it!”

“I am not buying ramen for a three-year old,” Kakashi said reasonably, roaming his pocket only to find money at the very bottom.

The child froze in his antics when Kakashi threw the cup ramen his way, his thin fingers coming to rest on his head as he shut his eyes toward the ground. He looked up sharply, peering at Kakashi with wide eyes. “It’s for me?” he asked.

“You wanted it,” Kakashi said to the child— Minato-sensei’s child. Kakashi knew his name from the files, but never once uttered it. Someone across the street gazed at the child in distaste. She murmured a word and urged her husband away in the opposite direction. 

“Take it from the ground; it’s yours.”

“Oh,” the child said, still covering his head with one arm, cradling the ramen carefully near his chest. He stared at it for a long time, turning it continuously as his eyes grew larger. His head snapped at Kakashi. “Thanks?” he said, hesitant.

“No need,” Kakashi said, turning away to glance at the stones; in between, there were two enormous eyes of his sensei, looking stoically ahead.

“Thanks!” the boy yelled, insistent now, staring with bright eyes. “Thank you!”

“Alright,” Kakashi said, shoving his hands in his pocket. The child jumped to his feet, the soles of his shoes swinging in delight.

“Where are you bringing me?” he asked, his fingers moving against the plastic wrap, nails tearing the seams.

“Your house,” Kakashi said.

“What’s that?”

“Somewhere to live in.”

“But I live in the white room,” the boy said. “That one with the nee-chan in white dress. Sometimes Jiji would come too. I live there.”

If anyone told him that babysitting was ANBU’s area, he would have killed the bastard. Considering everything, he still would. “The Hokage gave you a new place,” Kakashi said. “You will live there.”

“Oh,” the boy said, worrying his lips. He reached for his sleeve again. “But what about the monster?” he asked.

Kakashi felt his Sharingan itching to the point of burning. Ensuring that no one had heard them, he turned to him, his heart crawling inside its cage, “where— have you heard that from?”

The boy dropped his ramen. His hands wound together as he held his stomach. “Nee-chan wants me to live without the monster,” he said.

“What monster?”

“Er.” The child blinked, squinting his eyes as he thought hard. “Me?” he said. “Nee-chan said. She wants to help me get it out.”

“What do you mean?”

The boy wasn’t listening. “Wow, sir!” he exclaimed, his hands coming to cradle Kakashi’s face. He had crouched down to better question him; it was bad judgment. “Mister, you have one eye that’s all red! Are you crying? People cry a lot. I see a lot of people cry.”

_(“What’s wrong?” Kushina asked, her red hair in a tail, swinging back and forth as she sat next to him. “Did you get into a fight with your teammates?”_

_Kakashi staggered. Flushing, he shook his head. “I was thinking about my father,” he said.)_

Anger coursed through him. He hadn’t felt it in a long time. “I asked you a question,” he gritted out. “Answer it.”

“I didn’t people can cry with one eye,” the boy said. “Are you okay, mister?”

Kakashi wanted to kill him. He was fifteen; he was supposed to hold the impulse to kill, to blame. Because the murderer of his mentors stood right at his side; because a beast was inside the boy. Because he was Minato-sensei’s child that he was not allowed to speak his name.

“Monster,” he whispered, his hand flat on the boy’s stomach, chakra radiating in waves. Terrible things had happened because it. Terrible things had happened to the child because of it.

Two small, thin hands wrapped themselves around his wrist. “You want to help me get rid of it too?” he said excitedly, pressing Kakashi’s palm against his skin. “You have to hit harder, though. Nee-chan said it helps it out.”

Kakashi stood up, detaching himself hastily, unwilling to look at the boy. “Pick up your stuff,” he said. The child hugged the ramen cup, his hair golden under the sun. “I will take you to your place. Eat it and go to sleep.”

 _(“My father died when I was young, too,” she said, her eyes a little sad as she took his hands in hers, “but I was lucky. I had a mother growing up. You have no one.”_ _Kakashi noticed the way her hair shone when the day dawned; it was almost golden._

_“I want to be here for my child when he grows up,” she said, guiding his hand to her growing belly, “the same way I want to be here for you, Kakashi. Do you understand?”)_

“Your hands are warm, mister,” the boy said. 

Sighing, Kakashi extended a hand. Beaming, the boy took it gingerly. “So warm!” he said, laughing. “It’s like someone was holding your hands the whole time!”

“Naruto,” Kakashi said, testing the name. He wondered if Minato-sensei did the same. “Do you know how to do ramen?”

The boy stuffed a finger in his mouth, drooling already. “I take the thing off and eat it!”

“No,” Kakashi said. “That’s not how you do it.”

“Oh,” Naruto said. “Sorry.”

Kakashi shook his head. “I will teach you,” he said.

_(“I do,” Kakashi said, his hand moving against the curve, fascinated by the life it held inside. “Thank you, Kushina-san.”)_


End file.
